Story time!

Stories are powerful and important. Sometimes the sole remembrance of a person and their life lies in a story. The works of many, acts of compassion, and revolutionary ideas contain themselves in these tales waiting to be discovered. It is as if there are countless treasures out there waiting for us to uncover them. The search for them is not hard, and the key to unlocking them is simply listening. By listening, we can learn very important lessons and possibly better understand our own problems. We can only learn so much from books, but from stories from other people we can gain extensive new knowledge.

Stories can also teach us how we could act, or suggest positive lifestyles to model. A story of mine that exemplifies this greatly. In my sophomore year of high school some friends and I noticed a student who would always sit by himself at lunch. After many days of making the same observation, we decided to hang out with him. We sat down and introduced ourselves and began to talk. Everyday we did the same thing, and soon enough we were all good friends. Two years later, our friend told us something that blew us away. He told us that we saved his life. He had gone through many hardships at home and outside of school, and had no one to lean on during those times. Thoughts of suicide danced around his head. He admitted that he had come close to ending his life several times. From his point of view and situation, we literally saved his life. The story we tell isn't about bragging, but it shows that sometimes all people want is a friend.

As for myself, I hope there will be many stories to tell about me. I hope that they will inspire and teach others. My autobiography won't be about my accomplishments or my awards(what a short book that would be!). Rather, it would be a story of compassion and courage. A story that tells of great love and sacrifice for others. A war story, where the battle against all that is unjust and wrong was fought to the end. It won't end with "happily ever after", but it will serve as a reminder to fight for what happiness we can obtain in this life.